Name: Mutton, Venison Fashion
Ingredients: 1 neck of Southdown wether mutton (4-5 years old); ¼ ounce allspice, ground; ¼ ounce black pepper, ground

Why it works: Allspice and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mutton, Venison Fashion

Ingredients

1 neck of Southdown wether mutton (4-5 years old)
¼ ounce allspice, ground
¼ ounce black pepper, ground

Directions

Hang the mutton in a cool place for at least one week.
Two days before cooking, mix allspice and black pepper together.
Rub the mutton with the spice mixture twice a day.
When ready to cook, wash off the spice with warm water.
Roast the mutton in pastry as directed for haunch of venison.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,442 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + allspicetop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together322 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).